How to Make Digital Transformation a Business Reality

Digital transformation (DX) is application of digital technolo­gies to impact all as­pects of society and business. In lay man language it can be defined as the remaking of every aspect; it’s as simple as everything is being rethought, simplified and improved.

Information Technology in this era is helping every business to go digital, in order to be more effective and demonstrate value to its all units. But for suc­cessful DX we need more of board room endorsements and internal buy-in to manage cultural and op­erational transformations within the organization.

Before stepping into this jour­ney, 3 questions if answered proper­ly can lead to right transformation:

Why Transform? What to Transform? How to Transform?

Once we have an answer to above questions, then we step down to ac­tual task breakdown for DX. Same can be broadly divided as defining business goals (Definition), assess­ing existing data available (Assess­ment), analyzing results (Analysis), designing improvement plans (Im­provisation), implement solution (Implementation) and finally con­sistent data check vs. business goal (Setup controls).

There are lot of challenges that would be a part of this digital jour­ney and would require a constant focus like change in corporate cul­ture, ensure effective collaboration among it team and departments, keeping digital strategy on mind, al­locate resources and budgets, ROI to justify and last but not the least risk management, compliance and legal complications.

We have seen above the steps taken to transform digitally and the challenges that would come in as a part of this transformation. Going forward we also focus on the output achieved/benefits after this digital transformation, which can be categorized as: a bettercustomer experience, an enhanced brand reputation, streamlined & efficient operations, increase in sales with higher market valuation, retention of satisfied and happy customers, extending reach of organizations through digital channels, improve management decisions with help of analytics and better company culture which encourages creativity and innovation.

The 5 P’s of management theory plays an important role in transfor­mational journey thus leading to satisfied customer and employee ex­perience: Process, People, Purpose, Profit and Performance.

According to global research, it is evident thatInternet of Things (IoT) has become the leading tech­nology for digital transformation followed by Artificial Intelligence (AI).Improved service delivery, bet­ter health and safety across organiza­tion and greater workforce produc­tivity are some of the key benefits of IoT. IoT becomes eyes and ears of organization and its value comes from how data it collects is used to improve effectiveness across organi­zation.

As per market demand, cus­tomer feedback, business need journey to digital transformation remains a continuous process and IT as backbone should always be ready to lead the way with latest and best suitable solutions available in the market and within the budgets agreed to the management. Believ­ing in the fact what worked yester­day to attract and engage customers has become obsolete today; digital change is the only constant practice which can help to survive in this fast moving markets.